Rhinomed Limited announced that of the forthcoming publication of a further study and data by researchers from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the Royal Children's Hospital (RCH) Melbourne confirming the efficacy and comfort of the world's first nasal swab designed specifically for children - the Rhinoswab Junior. The "Less invasive SARS-CoV-2 testing for children: A comparison of saliva and a novel Anterior Nasal Swab''1 compared the current standard of care combined nose and throat swabs to saliva collection and to Rhinomed's novel anterior nasal swab. Study samples were self-collected by 53 children aged 4-18 years.

The study demonstrates Rhinoswab Junior is the superior method for collecting samples from children when considering comfort, consistency, accuracy and efficacy. Rhinoswab Junior's unique design and ease of use means even children can self-administer sampling, and parents and carers are more likely to ensure children are tested. Rhinoswabs have potential to significantly improve testing rates and accuracy and, as a result, case detection across populations, especially children and other vulnerable groups.

In this study Rhinoswab was preferred by 88% of children when compared with the combined nose and throat swab. This builds on a previous Murdoch Children's Research Institute study of 249 hospital samples that concluded that the Rhinoswab Junior is clinically equivalent to a standard combined nose and throat swab, yet preferred by eight out of 10 children as well by parents and nursing staff. The 19th Royal Children's Hospital National Child Health Poll3 identified that 74% of parents were reluctant to bring their children in for COVID-19 testing because of potential trauma and pain, with up to 30% unlikely to test their children due to current sampling methods.

The new Murdoch Children's Research Institute & Royal Children's Hospital study confirms Rhinoswab Junior provides a comfortable alternative that addresses these concerns. These results come at a time when case detection continues to be a critical part of the public health response to the ongoing SARS-CoV-2 pandemic including new variants. The results from this study confirm that Rhinoswab Junior provides a feasible and acceptable method for SARS-CoV-2 case testing and detection in children.

In this study Rhinoswab samples proved highly sensitive to SARS-CoV-2 detection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) compared with saliva samples. All 44 SARS-CoV-2 combined throat and nasal (CTN) swab detections were also detected by the Rhinoswab sample (sensitivity 1.000 (95% CI 0.920, 1.000) with an additional positive SARS-CoV-2 detection in a Rhinoswab sample not detected in the CTN sample. By comparison, saliva samples detected 39 of the 44 CTN detections (sensitivity 0.886, 95%, CI 0.754, 0.962).

In July 2022 SureScreen Australia successfully registered the first rapid antigen test kit using the Rhinoswab Junior with the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods enabling sales into the Australian, New Zealand, Singapore and South Pacific markets. These kits are now available for sale in Australia via SureScreen Australia.